HP, like most PC companies, debuted most of its new and cool computers in October when Windows 8 launched. So it’s no surprise that the company’s CES offerings are few. This week in Las Vegas HP’s showing off two laptops: The HP Pavilion Sleekbook and the Pavilion TouchSmart Sleekbook. These notebooks start at $480 and will be available within weeks (instead of months from now).

　　The first to come to market will be the 15.6-inch HP Pavilion Sleekbook. Sleekbook is HP’s moniker for machines that have many Ultrabook-like qualities – such as a thin design, light weight, island-style keyboard, and clickpad – but the specs don’t quite fit into the Ultrabook category. In this case, the Sleekbook comes with an AMD processor (technically, Ultrabooks are Intel-only) and a traditional hard drive instead of an solid-state drive.

　　You can get up to 1TB of storage in the Pavilion Sleekbook, which would be ultra expensive if it had an SSD inside. The AMD A Series processor also shaves a few pennies off the price. Other specs include USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, a memory card slot, HDMI, and optional AMD Radeon discrete graphics. Another difference between this laptop and an Ultrabook is that the Sleekbook’s battery is removable.

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　　If this laptop looks familiar, it’s because it uses the same design as existing 15-inch Sleekbooks, just with different options for internal hardware. With AMD in the mix, it’s possible to get the slim and light design at a slightly lower price.

　　Image used with permission by copyright holderThe new HP Pavilion Sleekbook will be available January 13 starting at $480. This includes an AMD A4 CPU, 500GB hard drive, 4GB of RAM, and three color choices: sparkling black, ruby red, and winter blue. It will come with Windows 8, naturally.

　　For those of you who just can’t deal with Windows 8 if there’s no touch capability, you’ll only have to wait a few extra weeks for the HP Pavilion TouchSmart Sleekbook, which will be out on February 3. Though the specs are about the same here, the starting configuration includes a more powerful AMD A6 CPU, 6GB of RAM, and a 750GB hard drive. Plus, the 15.6-inch display will respond to touch, making it even easier to navigate Windows 8.

　　The starting price for the TouchSmart model is $650, which is still within the budget realm. For those of you looking for an inexpensive, yet powerful machine, HP is doing its best to deliver.

　　We’ve only had a little bit of hands-on time with these Sleekbooks, but, so far, we’re impressed by their lightness and sturdy build quality. We’re looking forward to getting them in for review after CES.